In “The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia,” Masha Gessen delivers a remarkable and thought-provoking examination of Russia’s post-Soviet landscape. It offers a fascinating and illuminating analysis of the country’s complicated journey and a deep understanding of the events and forces that have ravaged Russia in recent times. 

The book follows the lives of seven people, four of whom were born at what appeared to be the dawn of democracy and each of them came of age with unprecedented expectations. Gessen provides valuable insight into the mechanisms of authoritarianism and its impact on society by drawing on a wide range of sources, interviews and personal narratives and by putting together the dynamics that have shaped modern Russia, particularly through her examination of the concept of “Homo Sovieticus,” which has been introduced by the sociologist Yuri Levada. 

Gessen contends that the deep state never really went away and that the country is still struggling to free itself from the psychological subjugation fostered during the long decades of Soviet rule. The book is a superb, disturbing depiction of an authoritarian regime that exercises outsize influence in society, at significant human cost.